What defines Prog, for you?

If it was created by one of the following groups:

ELP
Genesis
Yes
Gentle Giant
King Crimson

CCVP wrote: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?come on, side 2 of Tarkus rule! You MUST be kidding T, mah boi!For example: i would take side 2 of Tarkus over the whole Aqualung album any day, and i MEAN it!

ok, i thought this was a ludicrous statement, but i've just quickly sort of skimmed through side 2 of "Tarkus" and (aside from "RU Ready Eddy"), it IS pretty damn good. not as good as "Aqualung", but not as weak as I'd remembered it.

ELP really screwed up with track ordering on "Tarkus". They should have had side 2 first (minus "Eddy"). those songs should never have been expected to follow the "Tarkus" extravaganza.

Genesis was much wiser with "Foxtrot".

Here's what defines it for me (some, but not necessarily all of the following at once):

What describes Prog?

b_olariu wrote: Progressive music is rock as high art, a special genre that proves that is only for those who are open minded.

Agreed.  Rock for fine artists. Rock for intellectuals. Rock for the analytical mind. Although I've noticed that many non-musical artists (painters, sculptors, writers, etc) prefer simpler rock like mainstream pop/punk/rock.  Do you have to be a musician to be drawn to the complexity of progressive rock? Even if you are analytically minded?

http://www.metalsucks.net/?p=1541

Rule #1 :D

Growing up with the classic stuff, I guess what defined prog for me was that moment when, listening to an album for the first time, I either thought 'that is way good' or 'that is the weirdest thing I've ever heard' or some combination of the two.  For the classic albums from the early '70's, that generally served well.  At the time it was all about skilled musicians playing relatively complex music that engaged the listener, that demanded active listening.  There is, to give an example, a reason why Roundabout had to be editing to a little 3-4 minute snippet to be successful:  one, AM radio had no way to accommodate lengthy songs; two, your average listener hadn't the attention span to accommodate a 9 minute song.

Prog is what ever you want it to be. Serious. I'm not trying to be cute or deep or anything. We all have our own opinions about what is prog and what is prog related or prog this or prog that. You can tell by this list that they're as many opinions as people.
 With that, to me, it's music that contains some pretty complex musical compositions,  that float into other types of complex compositions. The music seems to take me to different "places" or takes me though different moods. It makes me sit there and pay attention to it, as opposed to a "pop" song which I can hear in the background and not miss a beat. I need, and want to pay attention to it, to hear all the subtleties of the music.

prog is music i know when i hear it, you either love progressive rock or you do not, as for what exactly it is, for me, progarchives does a wonderful job of maintaining a way to say what is prog and what is not

The Beatles experimental timbres, rhythms, tonal structures heard on Rubber Soul and Revolver influenced legions of bands that were to create Progressive Rock.  The Beatles Revolver and Sgt Pepper went away from the Western Pop norms of melody, harmony, instrumentation, formal structure and rhythms.

 

"Love you To” and "She Said She Said" middle sections are in contrasting meters. The complexed mixed meters of "Good Morning Good Morning" was basically unheard of in rock music.  The eastern scales used in "Love You To" and "Strawberry Fields Forever". The use of Lydian mode in "Blue Jay Way" and Dorian Mode in "Eleanor Rigby  Mixolyodian mode in a number of tracks including "She Said She Said"". The authentic use of avant styled tape loops of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "I am the Walrus".  The use of drone in it's Indian context  and instrumentation ranging from "Norwegian Wood" to the Indian orchestra of " Within You Without You". The Gamak or Eastern styled melodies of “Rain with it backward vocal outro and "I Want to Tell You".